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I've set up this blog so that all my friends, relations and colleagues in the world of writing can keep up to speed with what I'm doing - from now on, I'll never have to say sorry for not keeping in touch.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

It’s lovely to have you here on my blog today. Do help
yourself to a slice of Christmas cake. I’ll just get the coffee on and then
let’s talk about your lovely new novel for The Red Telephone Press: The
Demon Magician.

Please tell us about the genesis of this novel – who or what
inspired it?

AD: As you know, Margaret, I love to write, so when someone
told me about NaNoWriMo - an annual internet-based creative writing project to complete
a 50,000 word novel during month of November - I knew the only way I could do it
was to write about something I knew well.
My parents, and my mother in particular, loved horror and she introduced
me to that genre very early in life.
Some of my fondest memories are staying up late on Friday night to watch
the Hammer Horror films, Mum reading Edgar Allen Poe to me, and listening to old
radio plays (in particular The Man in
Black). This, combined with some of my other passions: gothic music, fashion
and a good-looking, charismatic demon with a wicked sense of humour, is how The Demon Magician came about. I simply
wrote about what I loved, all mixed up with love, humour and lots of drama.

MJ: When and where is The
Demon Magician set, and why?

AD: It’s set in present day, in a small town fictional town
somewhere in the south of the UK. Ultimately, when writing horror, fantasy or
science fiction, you have to ground the story in a reality your reader can
relate to. Hence a normal town, with
normal shops and a girl-next-door heroine leading a normal life - that is, until
she meets the Demon Magician…

MJ: The book has a gorgeously spooky cover featuring cadaverous
hands and a hooded creature with a single red eye. Did you play any part in its
design? What does the cover say about the story?

AD: I did have a hand in the design so I’m glad you asked me
this. I brainstormed several ideas with
an online designer and ultimately agreed on the lone image of a dark magician
because it was the most powerful visual that summed up the story. Jonathan is a magician gone bad. He’s in servitude to Belphegor, one of the
seven archdemons of Hell, and lives his life in the shadows. The cover needed to show him because he is at centre
stage of all the events. I especially loved the font that was used and I’m very
proud of myself finding it using a font search tool.

MJ: Who is your ideal reader for this novel?

AD: It is being marketed as a YA Fantasy Horror and would
appeal to anyone who loved The Demonata series, The Vampire’s Assistantby
Darren Shan, Charmed, and my personal
favourite Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That
said, I’ve always read YA and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to a recent
marketing survey, I’ve discovered I’m not alone because an increasing number of
adults are now enjoying YA, which is one of the fastest-growing literary genres.

MJ: You’ve written the novel in the first person. Do you
feel the first person viewpoint is the most appealing and do you always use it?
Or was it merely right for this story?

AD: First person was right for this story. If it wasn’t
written in first person, you’d have no sympathy with Ella when she knowingly takes
a gift from a demon, or be able to experience the conflict with her on such a
personal level when she realises she has to stop Jonathan who used to be the
love of her life. You need to hear her
inner voice at all times – it’s what drives the story forward and sucks you
into the magic underworld of demons and black magic.

MJ: You live in Hong Kong. Does Hong
Kong inspire your fiction? Or, when you write fiction, are you
escaping from Hong Kong?

AD: You can’t help but be inspired by Hong Kong. It is amazing, and I can’t believe how lucky
I am to be living here. We have ultra modern buildings, luxury shopping malls
and spas built on top of and squashed between markets, temples, local medicine
shops, lovely little tea houses and more restaurants per square foot than
anywhere else on this earth, I’m sure of it. There’s also amazing countryside,
beaches and some beautiful little islands, which are like stepping back in time
– we’ve even got our own Gold Coast! It is a hundred different places in a
relatively small surface area, with every nationality all somehow living in
harmony. However, it’s the Hong Kong people’s spiritual
beliefs and rituals that tend to inspire my writing. They are a very superstitious people – 8 is
lucky, 4 very unlucky (we have no fourth floor on any building). When things weren’t going so well for me at
work, one of my friends put curly bamboo on my desk to help change my luck and
there are rituals to honour the dead.
What I really love is their temples.
You go there to pray for good luck, and if the prediction is bad, you
burn it in the fires and leave all your bad luck behind, and if it is good – you
take it with you. You can’t lose!

MJ: What is next for Alex Dunn, fiction-wise?

AD: I’ve several other YA fantasy novels almost completed,
but the one I am racing to finish is another demon story. This time it’s about a demon who opens a spa
and makes people thinner, younger and prettier in return for their souls. It’s a lot of fun and quite topical given the
obsession we all seem to have with outward appearance. I’m also able to draw on my own diet
experiences that are extensive and not all of them successful. J

MJ: You’ve successfully published your first novel. What
advice would you give a new writer just setting out on the journey you took?

AD: Be patient, because getting a book to print is a marathon not a
sprint. It takes time to edit, time to
make revisions, time to see if marketing strategies work – it even takes a long
time to do fun things like the cover. Patience is a mandatory requirement for
all authors.

MJ: Do you feel everyone has the potential to become a
storyteller? Or are storytellers born
rather than made?

AD: I believe we all have it in us to write a story, but not
everyone can tell one. I listen to a lot
of audio stories when I work out, and love listening to the likes of Stephen
Fry, Rik Mayall, or John Hurt. They
perform the story. They make it come alive, and it’s the next best thing to
reading the pages yourself.

Five Quick Questions

Do you prefer:

Animals or people?

Err, that’s a tough one, but I’ve never met an animal I
didn’t like so I’ll have to say them, although that doesn’t mean I don’t like
most people I meet, too.

City or country?

City – I like convenience and excitement.

Company or solitude?

Solitude, but only because it’s a luxury these days.

Exercise or the sedentary life?

Sedentary – I go to the gym but I don’t enjoy it.

Ship or plane?

I really don’t mind as long as it’s first class. J

Thank you, Alex – it’s been great to chat to you! Good luck
with this novel and with many more to come!

Margaret James The Silver Locket

Margaret James Elegy for a Queen Kindle Edition

About Me

I'm a novelist, journalist and teacher of creative writing for the London School of Journalism. I've written fifteen published novels and lots of short stories, one of which was published in the RNA's Golden Anniversary anthology, Loves Me, Loves Me Not - am very proud of that!